Related coverage

The last time I was this optimistic about player depth in Australian rugby, John Eales slotted a last minute penalty goal to sink New Zealand in Wellington.

It was in the middle of a fantastic period of Australian rugby between 1998 and 2002, where Australia won eight of 11 Bledisloe Cup matches contested, won a Rugby World Cup, and finally prevailed over the Lions. True domination.

I was optimistic because Rod Macqueen had installed a sense of pride and privilege in the Wallabies jumper that was rarely seen before.

Every player knew they had worked hard to wear gold and knew that if they didn’t continue to work hard, the next cab off the rank would snatch that gold jersey off their backs. A prime example was the rise and fall of Wallaby Tom Bowman.

Flash-forward to the period between 2009 and 2012 and Robbie Deans, rightly or wrongly, has a select bunch of favourites who are marched into the Wallabies regardless of form or off field behaviour.

While Deans certainly does play favourites, I concede in some situations there just hasn’t been a viable option, ie. Wycliff Palu at number eight.

What the Brumbies, Reds and a smattering of players from both the Rebels and Force have shown throughout 2012, and now in 2013, is that Deans finally has those extra options.

Whether he chooses them is another matter altogether.

A perfect example is Kurtley Beale. His form at fullback at the beginning of the 2012 Test season was diabolical. I have never been so embarrassed regarding the performance of a fullback for Australia as I was that night against the All Blacks in Sydney.

But in all honesty, who else would you pick?

This year I don’t think we have to indulge Beale and the lack of responsibility he shows with regards to his own body and personal fitness.

We have Jesse Mogg who has kicked on from 2012 with an excellent start to 2013. He has the huge kicking game of Latham with the deceptive speed of Joe Roff, coupled with the ability to play the ball both sides of the body.

Sure his defence was suspect at times in 2012, but he has never ever been bad as Beale was that night against New Zealand.

Quade Cooper is another. I have defended this guy no end, and I believe he is still the best option for the Wallabies at 10, despite starting slowly this year.

But you cannot deny that the Brumbies player-makers, Christian Lealiifano and Matt Toomua are developing into true alternates.

This is only healthy for Australian rugby. It means Cooper has to pull his finger out and improve his decision making around the park, or risk being overtaken by the other two contenders.

On Saturday night, when the news came through that David Pocock would miss the Lions series, I was disappointed for him as a person, however I wasn’t too concerned about the open-side flanker replacements we have on offer.

This isn’t 2011, and we now have Michael Hooper, the indisputable form Wallaby of 2012, and Liam Gill, arguably the form player in Super Rugby this year so far.

This is before we even begin to speculate over George Smith, who made a triumphant home coming after stints in Japan and France.

Whichever way Deans decides to go, I think it would be hard to argue the impact on the Wallabies would be as great as it was in 2011 at the Rugby World Cup.

This situation is playing out in most positions across Australian rugby. The contenders in many positions are hungry and are putting in huge efforts to force Deans’ hand when it comes to selection.

Perennial starters in positions we formally lacked depth are going to have to lift their game to overcome other contenders who have been putting their hand up for a number of seasons now.

For example, Benn Robinson is no longer a guaranteed walk up, and he is going to have to work very hard to discover form we haven’t seen since 2009, and prove he is worthy.

It is nice to speculate on the depth, which I believe is developing in Australian rugby. However the question remains, will Robbie Deans have the ‘big ones’ to pick in-form contenders if the incumbents don’t lift their game?

The Crowd Says (109)

no doubt the players coming thru are talented & thats great in improving depth but they are all relatively inexperienced at test level. I think they’ll get their chance but Im not convinced the lions series is the place to be picking these guys. Might be better to leave them until the EOYT.

But don’t forget Deans was under great pressure in that Welsh series. Genia won them the game in Brisbane off his own bat and then Mike Harris slotted a very difficult penalty after the bell to win the series.
Deans, a naturally conservative selector, stuck loyally to the troops from then on.

As you point out, at this stage the alternatives are many for instance at 13 the possiblities are AAC, Faingaa (really strong return on the weekend against the Force) and, although unlikely, Tomane and Smith form the Brums. And I think that McCabe, if or when he returns from his bad neck injury, is a possibility to play the modern 13.

However lets just see how the season evolves before we get too carried away.

To me the whole key to Wallaby success in 2013 is the gentleman who returns to captain the Reds on Saturday night – if Genia can get back to his 2012 form (post contract negotiations) then the Wallabies are a real show.

Don’t forget Pocock’s defensive efforts in game 2 and 3. I re-watched the games the other week and he was everywhere.

Maybe the pressure he felt in June was because he had no clear mandate from the ARU? Personally I don’t really buy this though as it’s the year after the World Cup, which is the natural time to blood up and comers.

It actually looked like it was Speight and not Tomane who moved to outside centre after Andrew Smith left the field.
Given Tomane’s offloading ability and experience in the centres, both in Aus schoolboys and the NRL, I assumed he would be the natural replacement as well.
Mind you, Speight’s acceleration and strength and balance in the tackle had him looking pretty impressive there too.

If Andrew Smith doesn’t recover in time for this weekend’s match it will be interesting to see if White shuffles one of the wingers (Speight Tomane or even Rathbone) in a spot, or goes with a straight substitution such as Kuridrani.

The best bit of 13 play in the Brumbies/Waratahs game was when Fotu Aelua set up Speight for his try -power at speed! Of course he did play centre for Toulon. And he would be perfect facing up to Tuilagi.

He missed a trick in June!!!!?
Morahan, Vuna, Tomane, Gill, Hooper, Dennis, Harris, Palmer, Shipperly to name a few debuted in June.

You guys are unbelievable!

You really complain about the most ridiculous things. He used MORE debutants than any coach normally would and you say, as if actually serious, it wasnt enough?
Ive never heard such crazy talk in my life and you are showing your true colours here. Reason has gone in this conversation.

The biggest disappointment was Deans hesitation at using players that starred last year. If anything the Brumbies should have rivaled the Reds for players and not the Horrortahs. Christian Leailifano .White and Mogg deserve their chance. They and the Brumbies have looked the most steady under pressure, which has been missing from the Wallabies as they haven’t been able to consistently regroup and reverse that pressure. The chip kick has been the go gifting the opposition with the ball. I am one who saw Deans as having had his chance and change was needed before the Lions tour.

Hi jiggles, I think the most important thing for Deans is to pick players in their specialist positions, or at least in the positions they have played for their super XV frnachises in recent times.

There are a very good number of talented players in Australia, specifically the backs, but I get the impression Deans is not picking his best backline by position, but rather his best backline by players and then try to fit them into the backline which inevitably means that a couple of utility backs are employed.

O’Connor, AAC and Barnes comes to mind if I think of last year.

I do agree with you that there are enough players in most positions that are in good enough form that Deans should not pick Names, but rather positional specialists.

Hogg has been outstanding, Liliafano (spelling) has been solid, for me Gill starts and Hooper later, George Smith has played 60 minutes? So he still has to be given time.

Anyway, Reputations aren’t everything, especially if those players aren’t in great form.

I agree there is to many jack of all trades. Deans should pull rank with SR coaches and demand certain players play in those positions. For example, if he wants Tapaui to play 13, get link to play him there.

Jiggles, I agree with the thrust of your article. And I agree with biltongbek. But I think your Tapuai example is an example why Deans should NOT pull rank on SR coaches.

If I were Ewen I’d say “Well, let me tell you Robbie, I’ve coached Taps for a good few years now. We HAVE played him at 13 on occaison and I know you have too and I can tell you through seeing him at training, in games and talking to him, he is much more comfortable, confident and competent at 12. Playing him at 13 lessens his impact and means I have to move Anthony Faingaa out of his best spot so we’d be playing two guys out of position, significantly impacting on our teams performance and for what?”

Jigs, I agree that Ewen would be stupid to play Taps at 13 if this is where Deans wants to play him. I have to agree with WNM on that one. The fact Deans does this so often in itself is absurd and one of the reasons I dislike Deans as the Australian coach. I agree Taps is currently the best 12 running around and there’s also the fact that he’s played outside Quade now for quite a period and should Quade get the nod, it would be silly to put someone else in at 12.

However, there’s still plenty of rugby to be played, injuries to be suffered and as a result, our depth in some positions may well and truly be tested. Let’s hope not but the reality is likely.

Problem there stems from Aust having too many Super RUgby teams. Whilst we have a promising development of depth in many positions, and the extra teams giving many examples of players that probably would never have gotten a run otherwise, I believe if we only had 3 teams, then there would be no need to pick so many people out of position in order to get the best payers on the park. Best example being Rebels backline. Beale has demsontrated ever since debuting for the Waratahs that he is a brilliant fullback when in form, but is not a great 10, whilst JOC has also demonstrated limited potential as a 10, but also a demonstrated great outside back, yet they both get played at 10 just because they have no other options there. Big problem in all AUst conferences in recent years except the Reds, and now the Brumbies. And unsurprisingly, they are the only 2 teams in the last 3 years that have shown any sort of consistency.

If (and I don’t wish it to eventuate) we still only had three teams, there would be no shortage of players to fill these teams in each position, and then, from a Wallaby selection point of view, the best candidates in each position could be easily assessed, instead of picking talented players and putting them into a team without really knowing how they wil fit.

Which is why, Johnno and KPM, any suggestions of more Aust Super Rugby teams is crazy. Crazy!!!!!!!!! A viable third tier comp much more important.

Competition breads success so it’s definitely folly to think that more super rugby franchises would improve the tier players. What’s holding back Australian rugby is average player development and coaching at a junior level. NSW has the largest catchment in Australia by far and yet they can’t identify and develop a decent 9 or 10.

And yet the other franchises go repeatedly into the Sydney Premier Grade to recruit Something is not right in NSW when they spend so much pinching players from other teams instead of bringon their home grown youngsters.

Development takes time, effort and money. And at the end of it all you could still end up with a dud. It’s far easier for nsw to pick up the QLD blokes who’ve been left out or poach back a player once the Force/Brumbies/Rebels have played him a bit.

not true, the AB coaches are deadset on picking primarily specialists in their best 15. All the players you mentioned above are now playing the positions the AB asked them to play. The Abs see the versatility as a bonus but nothing more. I guarantee if a bloke like Vito played all season at 8, he would not be in the running as a 6 for the ABs.

Well, they don’t ‘dictate’ because it’s NOT absolute – to dictate is to give an order. What they do is request, but the Super Rugby coach has the authority to deny that request.

To answer your first question, Cory Jane was a fullback full time for the Canes right up until last season. Ma’a Nonu was a fill in at wing for the Canes due to Conrad & Tana being the first choice midfield. Piri was a stopgap at 10. 8 is probably Vito’s natural position and with Shields at the Canes it makes sense for Vito to stay at 8, but he’s not gonna get past Read for the AB’s.

It seems that it’s only now that Pulver sees the importance of the upcoming Lions series and already mistakes have been made. A three weeks training session for the Wallabies and no solid game time prior to the first test will leave the Wallabies underdone. Clinging steadfastly to Deans despite his track record places the Wallabies at a disadvantage: Deans sees himself as ‘one of the boys’—it doesn’t work, familiarity breeds contempt; Deans doesn’t stick with form players only, irrespective of where they come from, and he plays favourites hoping to run players into form—a cocktail of dithering. I fervently hope I’m wrong!

Why should Australia concern itself with what other test nations are doing. Australia needs to pick its best performing players and then build a game plan they can play, not develop a plan then try and fit a player into it.

Not sure I completely agree, but ironically I think Deans would. He just has a different definition of best players to you jiggles.

Game plan wise I don’t think Deans expectation are all that unreasonable. I do think after the implosion of 2011, however, that he moved to a basic graft plan because games like rwc Ireland showed us the Wallabies didn’t know how to earn the right to go wide, they’d just go wide and hope, or kick poorly. This year I’m expecting him to build on the up the guts formula; more graft, but more offloads and more lines being run to give options. Would like to see less reliance on Digby for that role.

Using tapui, faiinga, cummins and AAC as examples of depth just highlights the argument…. Against you. Not one of those would come close to making 13 for a NZ super team. Let alone international standard.

with the 4 year cycle of world cups itreally only gives the oppotunity for expermenting wth form for the two years following one. with the lions tour that really only gave australia the mid season maches to experiment with form players.

the Wallabies are a rep team made up of the best players in the country but there also a team. a team that requires balance,combination and cohession. you cant just throw players in every time a test match rolls around and expect the same form they produce for there provincial team to carry over. you have to look at a back and ask if there going to get the same service, the same space and the same structure. same for a forward with thesupport around them.

every coach australia has with the development pathways we have has to bite the bullett early in there tenure and decide who they want as the core of there team. its not Robbie Deans having favourites (and i say that as a deans hater) its robbie picking a team he believes can best suit what he wants to do. one or two players can force there way in. but its unlikely that a ‘form’ team will ever be picked.

it asnt, thats why i want a new coach and dont support him.
i would say however that even if the mythological Ewen McKensie supercoach of the year 2011 was brought into the fold that he wouldnt select a team based on form every year but rather pick a core group of plaers and stick by them. its the nature of the beast.

What both McKenzie and White have shown in the past, presuming they are the leading contenders after Deans, is the ability to drop players who aren’t performing. Their loyalty is to team performance, not individual players. I don’t see this changing if they were promoted.

White has a history of playing favourites in South Africa, but you could put that down to internal politics.

it diferent from superugby to the test arena though, no trials, 3 or 4 tests here then 5 weeks off while players learn and perform to other structures with other players then another 6 test matches, then four weks off of rest before another few test matches.

while i agee there is change needed amoungst the wallaby playing group. i disagree with use of the term “favorites” in oder to perform as a team you have to have some consistantly. when the reds chnge players or “rotate” they rarely roate or rest a fit genia/quad/fingeretc etc. ty rotate positions out of the decsion making front. same with jake. without injuries the ore group remain exactly the same.

deans has to the lions tour, following that if the coach changes, the team he picks first test match in should have a core able to lead us hrough to the world cup.

Deans selection merry go round would suggest he doesnt know what he wants the team to play like and until he decides that he cant pick them right team. Barnes and Beale playing 10 last year is a case in point. Do you want to run or do you want to kick?